Be First

Be First – working in partnership with the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham – is at the heart of London’s eastward growth, attracting developers and investors to the most affordable and accessible opportunities in the whole of the South East. With 400-hectares of development land, they’re planning to build 50,000 high quality new homes and create 20,000 new jobs over the next 20 years and we’ve been speaking to them about their use of MMC to deliver this…

Q. What are some of the projects that BeFirst is incorporating offsite manufacture and MMC on?

We have delivered a number of smaller temporary accommodation developments using volumetric modular systems, and are now looking to scale up the application of MMC across all our new build developments. [emaillocker id=”71749″]

We have two large projects in the pipeline that I am going to talk about during the conference. This includes a development of 386 homes on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking Town Centre, designed by White Arkitekter and 300 homes at a development called Padnall Lake designed by HTA Design.

Q. How developed is the offsite industry within Barking and Dagenham and the wider South East?

Interestingly we have just released a piece of research undertaken by HTA Design and Cast that reviews the market and the obstacles for Barking and Dagenham in delivering MMC developments. It feels like we are at an early stage of our journey, but there is a lot of interest, a lot of research and development and we are taking our first steps forward at a project level.

The research shows that nationally the sector is still relatively immature compared to other manufacturing sectors and the majority of housing completions remain traditionally constructed. However there is the huge potential of aggregated public sector demand in the south east that could drive the sector forward.

Q. The government is particularly interested in advancing these technologies within the industry, as a local authority supported institution does this agenda have more resonance?

Yes I believe its important that the public sector pushes innovation. Be First is a forward thinking company and committed to delivering quality neighbourhoods, buildings that last and delivering on the zero carbon agenda. All these factors push us towards MMC. However I would like to see more opportunities to partner with other public bodies to create a more joined-up approach amongst ambitious partners.

Q. How can offsite help you deliver the 50,000 homes that you have planned over the next 20 years?

Be First is very interested in the pattern book approaches that have delivered quality affordable housing in Barking and Dagenham in the past, such as on the Becontree Estate. We believe there is an opportunity in the borough to create a pattern book for the 21st century to deliver high quality, zero carbon housing at scale.

Q. How can the model advanced by BeFirst be applied to local authorities across the country to adopt these new technologies?

Many local authorities are increasingly developing their own new build housing programme. A key component to delivering successful MMC projects is understanding the pipeline, delivering at scale and working with great architects to achieve a high quality product. It would be great to see more collaboration between local authorities to deliver this and agglomerate demand where possible.

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